Taking Flight
by Miranda Tam
Summary: This is my first story, so no great expectations. It's about two girls who discover they have wings. Abandoned.
1. Chapter 1: Wings

Disclaimer: this is not mine. All of it is Tamora Pierce's, except for the characters and places that I made up.

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Chapter 1: Wings

Lia had always been an outcast. She didn't know why, but for some reason it had just happened, one day, long ago. Her mother had stumbled into the village, looking for a place to give birth. Soon after that, the baby was born. The mother died, or went away, or something. Lia had never been given a proper explanation. Her mother had left her with only one thing: a strange brown gem that was patterned with feathers. She never took it off. She was only allowed to go into the tribe's tents when she had it on. She wasn't really even part of the tribe, but they still kept her away. At least they had raised her, and made sure that she survive. She, at least, was partially accepted.

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Rel, on the other hand, had not been as accepted as Lia. She didn't know why either, but the people of her mountainous village treated her like livestock. She had appeared at the village gate as an infant, wearing only a grey gem on a pendant. The townspeople had turned her away instantly, and it was only because the Green lady had appeared and told them to take care of her that she survived. She was made to work as soon as she could walk, and after ten years of service, she was strong. She didn't know that her strength would come in handy.

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Lia was doing her daily task one day, minding the tribe's herds of goats and sheep, when a young boy came running up. "What is it?" she asked, surprised.

"The Headman wants to talk to you." He panted, out of breath. "I'm to mind the herds today."

That was surprising, too. The headman hated her, and wanted her to stay away as much as possible. She started walking over to his tent, inside the village.

As she walked through the village, mothers pulled children inside the tents, as all the adults glared at her. She hurried over to the headman's tent.

"Come inside." Came a voice, old and weary, from inside the tent.

As she walked in, she realized that the Headman was not the only one in the tent. There was another man, with black hair and startling blue eyes, pale skin, and northerner's clothes.

"Hello," he greeted her. He turned to the headman. "She's the demon you told me about?"

"Yes!" snapped the headman, an old, brittle man, with wrinkly skin and permanently glaring eyes. "I want her _out _of my tent before she disturbs anything!"

"Well. She definitely has wild magic, as much as Daine, if not more. What's your name?" he asked, his last question directed at Lia.

"My name is Liani Kestra of the-" she cut herself off. "Just- just Lia." She cursed herself inside. She was not of anything, especially not of the bazhir.

"Well, Lia," the blue-eyed man said, "would you mind removing that pendant? Just for a moment."

It was an odd request, but Lia complied. She had never actually taken it off before.

Nothing happened.

"Set it down somewhere where your skin is not in contact with it."

She set it down on the floor. The Headman wouldn't like it if she defiled one of his tables with her touch. The moment she set it down, she had the wonderful feeling of floating. She felt her back expanding, and her hair softening into feathers. From her fingertips on, the hairs on her skin were shifting into miniature feathers. On her back… she had grown wings.

The next day, Lia found herself sitting on a bouncy horse, trying to keep from falling off, while riding on her way to tortall. Or, at least, the main part of tortall. To Corus, to learn how to fly, and to be examined by mages. Right now, she was wearing the pendant, so that less people would stare.  
"It doesn't matter what they think." a calm voice spoke, startling her almost out of the saddle.

"Yes, your Highness," she replied. She had discovered that the blue-eyed stranger was the voice of the tribes, and the king of tortall.

He sighed. "We'll be at Corus in another two days."

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On that same day, Rel was sitting and dreaming right outside the town gate. She had just finished when she heard the clop-clop of horse's hooves on the ground, and saw a group of riders approaching. They were led by an unarmed man in black robes and a knight in golden armor, who appeared to have trouble getting his curly, red hair under control. She ran through the town, shouting "Visitors! We have visitors!"

People came to see the riders as they rode into town.

The man looked at all of the townsfolk and sighed. "We need to talk to two of you." He said.

"Yes, we need the Headman and the girl named Rel." the knight had a strangely high voice, but what was most startling was that they wanted to talk to Rel.

Rel came forward, and so did the Headman.

"I think that this would be easier if we went somewhere less crowded. The woods, maybe?"

There wasn't much standing room in the woods, but eventually they found a quiet grove with enough room. The knight was shorter when he was off his horse, but the man was much taller. They almost seemed to be opposites. "Rel? You're Rel, right?" asked the knight. "I'm Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau. He's Numair Salmalín."

"_You're _the _Lioness?_" Rel practically shouted.

"Yes. Anyway…" she turned to Numair. "Wild Magic?"

"As much as Daine," he replied. "If not more."

Rel stared at them, uncomprehending. She had magic?

"Rel?" it was Numair. "Can you take your pendant off, just for a moment? Set it down."

She followed his instructions. Almost instantly she felt something growing out of her back. Her ears seemed to be changing and shifting, and everything was louder. But… what was on her back? She twisted her arm around, trying to feel it. She brushed against something fuzzy. Then she realized that she could move it. She made it move over to where she could see it.

It was a wing.


	2. Chapter 2: Corus

Chapter 2: Corus

Two days later, Lia and King Jonathan arrived in Corus, Tortall's capital city. Lia could hardly believe her eyes, and her ears. Everything was so cluttered… and loud. "When do we reach the palace?" she murmured. The King didn't hear her. She asked again, louder this time.

"Just a short ride now," he said. "The noise takes getting used to."

Lia nodded and kept staring.

When they arrived at the palace, they were greeted by a swarm of young children. "Father, Father!" they all cried. "You're back!" they stopped to bow a foot away, then jumped on him.

"Children, get off your father. You're smothering him." Said a new voice, rich and female.

Lia looked for the source of the voice, and gasped. There stood the most beautiful woman in the world.

"Thayet!" The King sighed. "Please, get these savages off me! It's undignified."

Queen Thayet of Tortall gave in to a fit of giggles. "But… it's funny!" she laughed.

Lia just smiled. She was going to have fun here.

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Rel had not yet gotten over the fact that she had wings. Numair had poked and prodded them and tested them with magic, and Alanna had sighed over this, but eventually they got to the point and told her that if she wanted she could come to Corus with them. Rel agreed, of course. Why would she refuse?

The day after they left Rel's town, Alanna decided to examine her for infections. That resulted in a furious Alanna, a startled Numair, and a very confused Rel.

"She has worms, lice, fleas, and numerous scars from beatings!" Rel overheard Alanna talking to Numair one night. "That's not mentioning the badly healed bones, and I think that she has diabetes, though a mild form."

Rel frowned. What was diabetes?

"There's nothing we can do besides heal her as best you can and teach her how to manage her blood sugar." That was Numair, sounding frustrated.

"I know!"

"well then, why are you telling me? Why not tell her? She's just outside the door anyway."

"I know, Numair! I have the Gift, too!"

The door opened. Numair beckoned her in. "Um…" she started.

Numair silenced her with a look. "Let me give you the complete overview.

"You grew up in a town where nobody liked you or cared about you. Therefore, you have all kinds of diseases. You have several parasites, badly healed bones, and you have diabetes, which is a disease where the sugar in your blood can get too low or too high, because your body has trouble producing a chemical called insulin.

"You also have wings." He ended. "That is why the villagers treated you unkindly, because they thought you were a demon."

Rel gasped. Of course! That was why. Demons were legendary creatures, who had a human-like body, but possessed bat wings and horns. Now that she thought about it, she could see why the people were scared of her. But she was going to Corus now, and none of that mattered. Then there was the other thing, the thing that they didn't know about… but that was something else.

Two months later, Rel got her first glimpse of Corus.

It was magnificent. The city was vast, and on a hill, in the middle of it all, rose the castle, tall and majestic. Its towers were tall and tipped with silver, and its grey foundation stone was gleaming in the afternoon sunlight.

As they rode through the town, people came out to see the Lioness and Numair, and the girl that they had with them. Rel's pendant was on, but the people knew that nobody normal rode with the world's strongest mage and the Lioness. Rumors began to circulate. Before they reached the palace, Rel had heard of herself as a mage, a shapeshifter (almost), a demon (no), an angel (as if), and a wildmage (maybe?).

An hour later, after she had packed up, Rel received a summons to see the King. She started to grow nervous. She was just a common girl (with weird wings).

There was a knock on her door, and she went to answer it. A woman with curly brown hair and a smile walked in. "Hello, you must be Rel. I'm Daine. I'm Numair's wife. I heard you rode back here with him." Her eyes twinkled. "I should apologize. How many theories has he bounced off you?"

Rel blinked. _What? _"Umm…" she said. "so… uhh… Lady Daine-"

Daine cut her off. "No 'Lady'. Just Daine."

"ok… um… Daine, so, where should I go? I'm supposed to see the king…" she stuttered. _Everyone_ had heard of Daine the wildmage.

Daine smiled. "Follow me."

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_Palaces are the most confusing places in the world,_ thought Lia as she turned into the mess hall – another wrong turn. As she backtracked, She noticed Daine leading another girl around her own age somewhere. "Hi, Daine. Where are you going? Can you take me to the meeting? You're going there, right?"

"Yeah, I am. This is Rel, she's sorta like you."

Lia was surprised. Like her? Having wings?

"anyway… follow me."


	3. Chapter 3: Meetings, Lessons, and a Spy

Hi! Thanks for the reviews, everyone! In this chapter, I'll be introducing a place, a goddess, and a person, all of my own creation.

For the rest of the story: I do not own any of the characters except the ones that you don't recognize. (Like Lia and Rel. they're mine.)

Chapter 3: Meetings and Lessons

As Lia walked into the meeting room, she smiled. Her first friend, King Jonathan, was sitting at the head of the table. He caught her eye and smiled at her. She smiled back. He glanced at the girl called Rel, and then stood up. "As you know, a couple of months ago, I sent Alanna and Numair to Jindhazen (A/N: this name isn't mine. I found it in one of the PotS books, it's supposedly a country across the sea from the Yamani islands, so I'm going to take it and develop it some more.), which is a small country near the Roof of the World. I sent them with one goal – find the girl called Rel, and bring her to Corus. They were successful. I myself went on a journey to the bazhir tribe of the Sandy Dawn, to collect Lia" -he gestured to the girl- "and to bring _her _back. We were told to do so by none other than Lahsinka, Goddess of the People, who we know as animals."

Lia stared. He had known about her because of a _goddess?_

His voice brought her back to consciousness. "Lia, please take your pendant off. Set it down."

She did as he requested. As she transformed, She felt the wonderful sensation of being weightless. The tingling feeling of her hairs transforming to feathers spread across her body, and her wings grew. She flapped them once – she had been working with Daine, learning how to fly – and took off. She soared through the room, hearing a collection of gasps. As she landed, Jonathan was telling Rel to do the same thing that she had done. She herself gasped at Rel's transformation. _So that was what it looks like._ Rel had bat wings, whereas she had the wings of a falcon. There was a very big difference – yet besides the pendants and the bat/falcon features, they were almost identical.

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Rel watched as Lia flew around the room. So she wasn't the only one on the world with wings. Good. She could train with someone.

"_What is this?!_" cried a disgruntled voice. She turned. At the door, there stood a man who appeared to be in his early seventies. "Have you made a deal with demons? Humans cannot have wings!"

Jonathan sighed. "Yes they can, Lord Dentar of Neiralia. What do you think that she is?" he pointed at Lia.

_Of course,_ Rel thought. _Lia has bird wings – like an angel. Me, I'm just like a demon._

"It is not natural!" he cried. "I refuse to deal with creatures of near-human intelligence! They cannot understand human activities! They should be caged!"

Daine stood up. "Then why were you chosen to visit, Lord Dentar?"

"I am leaving!" he said. "I cannot abide the _unnatural_."

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King Jonathan sighed. Dentar was a visiting noble from Carthak. He was sent to negotiate the mining of a silver mine found exactly in between the countries, in the ocean. Unfortunately, he was also a conservative. Jonathan did something he would not normally do. "Raoul, please, go joust with him, or something."

Raoul of Goldenlake grinned. "It would be my pleasure."

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Numair was also groaning. He was expecting the visiting noble to keep away from the meeting room while the meetings that he wasn't invited to were in progress. This was the third time he had burst uninvited into the room and objected. He couldn't wait until the noble could go home. He had a bad feeling about the Lord.

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The next day, Rel had her first flying lesson. To her surprise, it was actually Buri who was teaching them how to fly, even though Daine was helping by growing bat wings.

"And push, up, down, up, down, faster!" Buri yelled. "Pump those muscles!"

Rel groaned inwardly. It was going to be a long day.

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Three hours later, when flying lessons were over for the day, Rel and Lia were called in to another meeting, this one more private. It included just King Jonathan, Queen Thayet, Daine, Numair, Rel, and Lia. They collapsed, exhausted.

"Can we make this short?" Daine asked. "The girls are exhausted."

"Of course we can." Thayet replied.

"Now… to business. Numair. You say that they have as much as – if not more – wild magic than Daine?"

"Yes, but it appears to be more focused. Lia's is focused in the area of winged birds, mainly predators, whereas Rel's is focused in the area of bats. With more training, they could both shift completely into an animal."

Lia was amazed. She could change into a bird? _I can't wait to try that out,_ she thought.

Numair was talking again. "However, the element that makes them unique is their natural human form with wings. I've been doing research, and I haven't found anything like this."

As Rel stifled a yawn, and Lia followed, Daine scolded the men for keeping the girls awake late and took them to their beds.

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**Hello.**

The word was loud and clear in the spy's mind.

_Hello._

The spy replied.

_I have information on the girls._

**So soon? You do your work well, my spy. What news have you reaped?**

_The girls have more magic than the Wildmage, though it is more focused. They can each transform into an animal, given practice._

**Very well. Make sure that they do not learn. It will make it very difficult to keep them, if they learn before we strike.**

_It will be done._

The spy's conversation was over. The spy was to make sure that Lia and Rel did not learn how to transform into each girl's given animal. That would be harder than it sounded, with Numair Salmalín watching them.

The Spy sat down to plot.


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